


Tangerine Glow

by sincerelymendacious



Category: Psychonauts (Video Games)
Genre: F/F, Make-up, franke gay, girls, i cannot imagine a person less capable of handling a love triangle than franke, it's more likely than you think, love triangles? in my camp?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:29:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28273134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sincerelymendacious/pseuds/sincerelymendacious
Summary: Franke has made-up a look for her super awesome girlfriend, but she's not so confident in her make-up skills. Unfortunately for her, the other campers prove less than willing to be her practice partner? What's a gay little girl to do? Maybe Crystal knows.
Relationships: Franke Athens/Crystal Flowers Snagrash, Franke Athens/Kitty Bubai (background)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Tangerine Glow

**Author's Note:**

> began this on the psychowhatsits discord server, but it became too long to post with my other drabbles. This is loosely connected to my previous Franke/Crystal fic, In a Sticky Situation, but you don't have to read that one to get into this one. 
> 
> as a side note, I don't dislike Kitty/Franke! I love that pairing too! But I also love drama, especially lesbian drama.

"What's wrong, Franke?"

Franke's head snapped up from the comfortable nest of her hands. She glanced over at the speaker, surprised that anyone had found her in her Super Secret Mope Spot. Who would have thought that she would have been so  easily discovered sitting alone at a table in the Main Lodge? Not her, that's for sure.

She  was relieved to see Crystal standing next to her table and not someone who might make fun of her for being sad. Like Nils, who liked to mock her for the ugly pediatric shoes she used to wear. Or that Space Girl, who had once called her out for picking her nose in front of an entire table full of people.  She was even more glad that Crystal was not Kitty, because she knew that making fun of sad people was one of Kitty's favorite things to do . Franke did not want Kitty to have any reason to think that she was uncool.

It was okay to look sad in front of Crystal, though.  A few days ago Franke had looked much worse. Not  just sad, but stupid and sticky, having gotten a wad of gum tangled in her favorite curl . Crystal had found her in that sorry state, and had offered to help her out without hesitation or mockery. That nobody around camp knew about the incident was a miracle on par with Jodi Foster's existence. If it had been the other way around, she would have spread the story all over the place like strawberry jam on toast. That fact tugged hard at her chest.

That was why she felt safe in keeping her shoulders slumped and her frown...not upside down. "Oh, hey Crystal," she said, placing her head back in her hands. "I'm just...you know." She blew out a sigh, the gust of air mussing her bangs. "Having one of those days."

"Oh. That stinks. I've had a lot of days like that." A small silence passed between them before the cheerleader added, "Can I sit with you? Maybe you'll feel better if you're not alone."

Sitting with a dork, even a cool dork like Crystal, was not something that would bolster Franke's spirits. But Franke hadn't been able to do anything she wanted to do today, so she figured that this may as well happen. Before she could even so much as nod, Crystal interrupted her with a "If you don't want me to, that's fine! Really!" She laughed in that way that was kinda sad. "You're probably waiting for Kitty, anyway- I wouldn't want to, you know, be a third wheel."

Actually, Kitty wasn't anywhere near the Main Lodge right now. She was hanging out with Quentin at the docks. "You gotta keep them hooked on the line," she had said to Franke earlier that day, her soft hand cupping Franke's cheek. "If you don't spend time with them, they wriggle off and swim right back into the sea. You understand, don't you baby?" Franke hadn't. She hadn't known that Quentin could swim, and weren't they near a lake anyway?- but she had nodded all the same.

The mention of her girlfriend only reminded Franke of the reason she was so down, which only sunk her mood further. "You can sit with me," she said, deciding that being sad was better than being sad and alone. "Kitty's working on a project right now. She won't be back for a long time."

"Awesome!" Crystal shouted, jumping up in excitement. Franke had to admit it was kind of cute. "Oh, but it's not awesome that Kitty can't hang out with us," Crystal clarified as she sat down in the space on Franke's left side. "But it's really great that you're letting me, you know, sit with you!" She beamed at Franke like she had done her a huge favor. "Yeah, I'm so happy to be sitting next to you that I could die right now with no regrets!!"

Franke blinked, Crystal's enthusiasm stunning her out of her slump. _Dang, does she have to say creepy crap like that?_ "Okay, it's not that big of a deal, Crystal," Franke said once the girl had calmed down a little. "You can sit there, but don't do anything weird like dying or breaking out into cheers, alright? That's totally lame."

Crystal bit down on her lip and blushed. "Oh, sorry. Don't worry, I won't do those things." She folded her hands on the table and stared straight ahead. "I'll just sit here and be quiet."

That was exactly what Crystal proceeded to do. Fine with Franke. More time for her to mope about how much life sucked. It was bad enough to be without Kitty for the better part of an afternoon. The minutes passed the way they did when she was heating easy-mac up in the microwave.  Matters were only made worse when it became clear that she would not be able to work on the one project that she couldn't allow Kitty to know about . That was what had turned this day from  'mildly annoying' to 'outright suckfest'.  This must be what Crystal and Creepy Clem feel like all the time. She tucked her head into a cocoon made of her own arms.

Minutes passed like this.  There they were, two silent girls sitting on a rickety table with gum stuck like barnacles on the underside . They had nothing to do, nowhere to be, and not much to say to one another. Franke rarely felt this bad, and was not accustomed to sulking about it for long periods of time. As a result, she became bored.  This sucks. I wish I had like...someone to talk to. About...I don't know. Why I'm so lame? She turned her face, pressing her cheek onto the table's cool surface.  But who? Man, I  just don't know.

"You look pretty, Franke."

Crystal's voice, soft as it was, cut through the otherwise silent room, penetrating the barrier of Franke's arms to work its way into her ears. "Huh?" Franke muttered out, confused by the sudden compliment. "What'd you say?"

Crystal's cheeks were nearly as pink as her hair. "I said you looked pretty," she repeated, eyes focused on her hands.

"Oh." Franke was not sure how to feel about that. Her brain was saying _no! bad!_ but her face was heating up a little, and had her heart just fluttered?

"I, uh, I saw that you have your make-up bag with you," Crystal sputtered out, pointing to the purple-and-pink-swirl print zip-up case. "And I thought maybe you were sad because you thought your make-up looked bad. But it doesn't." She looked Franke in the eyes, a shy smile curving her lips. "Your eyeshadow looks nice. Green is a good color on you."

Kitty had told her the exact same thing this morning. That the dorkiest girl in camp should repeat what the coolest girl had said was too weird to process. Franke didn't even try. "Thanks," she said, rising out of her hunched posture. "That's not why I'm sad, though." She arched her back, stretching out her stiff muscles. "But it wasn't a bad guess."

“Hm.” Crystal didn’t reply, her mouth working as though it was chewing over what to say next. “Well…” she said after a few seconds, “you could tell me about what’s making you sad. If you want to.” She was smiling, but her eyes held a touch of nervousness, like she was bracing herself for a mean rejection. “Whenever I feel bad, I talk to Clem about it, and he always finds a way to turn my frown upside-down! I know we’re not really friends, but maybe I could do the same for you?” She shrugged. “Though I totally understand if you don’t want to. Or if you would prefer to talk to Kitty about it.” 

In all honesty, Franke would have preferred to talk to Kitty. But Kitty wasn’t here, and it wasn’t like she could talk to Kitty about this anyway, since it would have ruined Franke’s surprise. But Crystal was here, and she’d already proven herself to be good at keeping secrets. It couldn’t hurt to try- it had to be better than moping. “Okay…” Franke let the word trail off into nothing, unsure of where to begin. Her experience with being sad had been minimal ever since Kitty entered her life, and she had forgotten how to talk to someone about a problem (that thing with the gum didn’t count, since Crystal hadn’t needed an explanation). “You know…” Franke licked her lips and tried again. “You know how Kitty’s always got the best make-up, like all the time?” 

“Oh yeah!” Crystal exclaimed, clapping her hands together. “Kitty’s got some serious style! I bet I could cut my finger on her eyeliner if she ever let me touch her!” 

“Uh, right,” Franke continued. “Anyway. She does my looks too. She did this.” Franke closed her eyes so that Crystal could get a better look at her eyeshadow. “So I’ve been wanting to make a look for her, because she deserves it. But I’m not…” She looked down at her palms, flat on the table. “I’m not as good as she is. Kitty’s been teaching me, but I’ve still got a lot to learn.” She sighed, for that learning had been going very slowly. “You know what I mean?” 

Crystal nodded. “I think so. I’m not that good at make-up either,” she admitted.

“Ha-ha, yeah.” Franke and Kitty had come to that conclusion a few days ago, when Crystal had shown up to Milla’s Dance Party with two clown-like splotches of red blush on her cheeks. _She’s good with her eyelashes though._ “But yeah. I can’t just slap a ton of make-up on Kitty Bubai. I have to practice first. So I thought I’d practice it first on someone else when Kitty wasn’t around...” Franke found herself unable to go any further, such was her shame. She put her face into her hands instead. 

“Uh-huh...and what happened?” Crystal asked as Franke groaned. “Was your look bad?” 

“I don’t know!” Franke exclaimed, tears gathering her eyes. “Nobody wanted me to do their make-up! Everybody said no!” She’d gone around, asking every girl she came across to help her out, and they had all declined. And not too kindly, either. The Space Case had given her a flat ‘negative’ in reply, Phoebe and Elka had been their usual snobby selves. Lili had glared at her with so much venom that Franke had flinched. She’d felt like the loser in pediatric shoes by the time she’d given up. “I don’t get it! Why didn’t anyone want to help me out? They should have been jumping at the chance to hang out with Kitty Bubai’s number one girl!” It didn’t make any sense. It was almost like she was the loser, and not those other girls that she and Kitty made fun of. 

“Oh, wow, Franke, I’m so sorry that nobody wanted to let you practice on them,” Crystal said, patting Franke on the shoulder. “If you had asked me, I would have totally said yes.” 

  
Franke sniffed and wiped her tears away. “You would have?” she asked, her voice shaky. 

“Yeah! I would love to have my make-up done by a master like you!” Crystal replied, smiling from ear to ear. 

Franke gave her a small smile in return. “Jeez, I’m not a master yet. But thanks.” Her smile fell onto the floor like a piece of pungent mystery meat. “Aw dang. I should have asked you, then.” She hunched back over the table, weighed down as she was by the missed opportunity. “If I’d known you would have said yes, I would have looked for you first.” 

“I’m sorry. I should have been easier to find,” Crystal said, genuinely apologetic. “Me and Clem were mixing potions on the roof. I came down here to get some WD-40, but I guess Mr. Cruller found a new hiding spot for it. Then I saw you looking so sad that my brain started to hurt, so I went over to see if you were okay.” She frowned, her brows scrunching together. “I wish there was some way to make you feel better.” 

Franke wished for the same thing. “It was nice of you to try,” Franke said. 

“What are you going to do now?” Crystal asked.

“I dunno. I guess I’ll just sit here feeling lame until Kitty comes to get me,” Franke replied. 

“That doesn’t sound like fun at all,” Crystal said, a rare note of disapproval in her tone. “Maybe you could hang out with me and Clem until Kitty gets back! We always have so much fun, and you know what they say! The more the merrier!” 

“Uh…” Franke wasn’t so sure. Spending time with Crystal was fine if she had no other options. But Clem...something about that guy weirded her out. “I mean...I guess I can see what you guys are up to.” Maybe she and Kitty could laugh at them later if they were doing something strange. “Wait, am I gonna have to climb up onto the roof?” The prospect was terrifying, for Franke wasn’t crazy about heights. “I don’t, um, think that’s gonna fly. I just...got my nails done!” 

“Oh, don’t worry. We were going to the Lodge anyway, because there’s a sink here,” Crystal said, much to Franke’s relief. “Clem should be back soon; he’s just going off to the janitor’s hut to get some drain cleaner.” 

“Oh, man, so we gotta wait for him?” Franke said, annoyed. “What are we supposed to do until he gets back?” 

Crystal deflated, punctured by Franke’s irritation. “I, um, don’t know. We could just...um, sit?” Her gaze shifted away to the make-up case, and suddenly brightened. “Oh! I got it!” she yelled, snapping her fingers. “Maybe you could practice that look you wanted to do for Kitty on me while we wait!” 

Franke’s mouth dropped open, shocked as she was by this miraculous reversal of fortune. “What...are you for real?” she said, a grin stretching across her face. “Dude, if you let me do this, I’ll love you forever!” She blushed, catching what she had just said. “As, you know, a friend,” she clarified quickly. 

Crystal nodded, her pretty blue eyes alight with happiness. “Yeah! I’ll be a super practice partner! I’m really good at sitting still, watch me!” She ceased all movement, eyes closing and face going slack. The only part of her that moved was her chest, rising and falling with her breath. 

“Woah, you are good!” Franke said, impressed. She grabbed her case and unzipped it, her whole body vibrating with excitement. “Alright, you just stay like that, and I’ll turn you into a super-fox! Or an orange disaster. We’ll see.” She began pulling cosmetics out and placing them onto the table. As she set the lipstick down, she glanced sidelong at Crystal. “Um, thanks,” she said, her gratitude making her shy. “You really cheered me up just now. That’s super cool.” 

“You're welcome, Franke,” Crystal whispered, her mouth barely moving. 


End file.
